


You Can Lean On Me

by maelstromdeparture



Series: On the Right Road [15]
Category: NCT (Band), SEVENTEEN (Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Brothers, Discrimination, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Hybrids, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Mentioned Jung Hoseok | J-Hope, Mentioned Kim Namjoon | RM, Mentioned Kim Seokjin | Jin, Mentioned Min Yoongi | Suga, Past Abuse, Trauma, i guess technically i can tag it taht
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:48:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25875397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maelstromdeparture/pseuds/maelstromdeparture
Summary: Seungcheol didn't do anything impulsively. He planned out everything important and life changing before he did it. Yet somehow he went to a shelter to learn more about hybrids and came home with a cat hybrid that was too old for a shelter, had been through too many homes, and had more trauma than Seungcheol knew how to help with. And somehow that impulsive decision ended up being one of the best he ever made.
Series: On the Right Road [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1723291
Comments: 20
Kudos: 75





	You Can Lean On Me

**Author's Note:**

> i am not a seventeen stan and only just started trying to learn everyone's names and faces so if stuff doesn't match personality. i'm sorry i did my best we'll chalk it up to in world changes because of the hybrid stuff.   
> also if i have spelled their names wrong please let me know so i can fix it :)))))))) 
> 
> this is unedited as per usual because i'm lazy and will get around to fixing it eventually. 
> 
> this takes place a little bit further back in the timeline, after Yuta and Johnny's origin fic and before Hyunjin's, roughly. 
> 
> !!!!!!Warnings because it is very important!!!!!! pls take care of yourselves and don't read if you're concerned about something!!  
> \- implied and referenced past abuse  
> \- implied and referenced rape  
> \- nothing graphic is mentioned or described because it's me...there's not normally anything graphic  
> \- there's talk about expecting rape and that kind of stuff. a little bit more than normal but again nothing explicit or even described other than like the word sex. (because one that's more graphic than i normally write and two i don't get the whole sex thing so i don't write the sex thing :))) *general asexual confusion*) 
> 
> i think that's all the important bits!!! Enjoy :D

Seungcheol had been very sure that moving to Seoul to start his career as a florist and own his own flower shop was a great idea. It turned out that moving to Seoul to start his career as a florist was incredibly lonely. After a year and a half of being on his own in the city and with his shop doing surprisingly well, he evaluated his options and decided that a pet wasn’t what he needed and since he wasn’t doing a great job of making friends, maybe he should visit one of the hybrid shelters just to see what they were like. He hadn’t been planning to take anyone home with him. Not at all. Not even a little bit. In no universe did Seungcheol do anything without thoroughly thinking it through first. He had planned out exactly how to go about his career and his education and getting to Seoul, he would never impulsively buy an entire higher mammal. He wouldn’t even impulsively buy a gold fish.

So how in the world was he currently sitting on his couch looking at a very thin and very disoriented looking cat with cute little funny bent years, almost silver fluffy hair, and the inability to keep himself from sneezing every few minutes that was currently sitting cross legged on the carpet in the living room looking around at the apartment that he could see. The kid…well he wasn’t a kid which was part of why he was now living with Seungcheol. So the hybrid was a rescue with a file a mile long, he had been passed through a couple different shelters and a handful of owners and while the shelter he was at was currently no kill there was nothing stopping them from moving him to a shelter that didn’t have that problem and he was old enough now and with that file he wasn’t going to find a home, certainly not a good one. He clearly had a cold. He was very malnourished. And his body was much too long for the tiny, inhuman, and cruel cages that shelter hybrids were normally kept in. Seungcheol hadn’t been able to leave him there. The hybrid had no idea what his breed was, didn’t know where he was from, he spoke five languages and couldn’t write in any of them, he had been smuggled through a handful of countries and severely abused most of his life because of it, his file said that he had ended up in police hands before he had gone into the Seoul shelters. The employees had made a point to make sure to explain that whether or not Seungcheol forced him too, the cat, who’s name was Jisoo, would not be able to have any kind of sex without ‘going feral’ or as Seungcheol had interpreted it, having a PTSD induced panic attack of some kind. The employees had also looked like they didn’t believe Seungcheol when he insisted it didn’t matter, he wasn’t looking for sex from a hybrid. Jisoo didn’t seem to believe that either but hadn’t asked anything at all, had barely said a word to him. He was painfully quiet and wouldn’t look up at Seungcheol either, though his hesitancy hadn’t stopped him from looking curiously around the flower shop downstairs or the apartment upstairs. Seungcheol rubbed his forehead and Jisoo’s head snapped in his direction, his hands twisting into the hem of the thin shirt he was wearing. What had Seungcheol done? He’d impulsively bought a hybrid. He had impulsively bought a very human like hybrid. He had basically full on adopted an entire second person because he was lonely without thinking it through.

“What are the rules, master?” asked Jisoo quietly. So quietly Seungcheol almost hadn’t heard him.

“Rules?” asked Seungcheol, “what kind of rules are there normally?”

“Don’t speak without being spoken too. Clean this at these times. Don’t eat anything not given to you. Stay out of the kitchen. Have all meals ready at these times. Get up for the day at this time. Go to sleep at this time. Be waiting here or here or there in this position at this time. Wake me in the morning, don’t wake me ever. Stay out of these rooms. Stay off the furniture. Don’t touch the electronics. Don’t touch the books. Don’t talk to people. Follow orders. Don’t look up. Don’t look down.” listed Jisoo. “Depends on the person and the household, master.”

“Um, alright. How about, call me hyung,” said Seungcheol, “don’t hide injuries or illness, ask if you need help, don’t hit anyone, don’t cuss at customers, eat when you want to whatever you want, sleep whenever you want, in fact please sleep and eat a lot. Ask any questions you have. If you break it clean it up or try to fix it, ask for help if you need it. Um, don’t do anything super creepy like stare at me in my sleep. That’s all I’ve got.” Jisoo looked up at him baffled.

“Stare at you in your sleep?” he muttered.

“It’s totally happened before. An old childhood friend, it was terrifying,” said Seungcheol nodding, “so I’d appreciate that not happening.” Jisoo looked genuinely baffled.

“That’s it?” he asked. “No chores?”

“Well, I do have a scheduled cleaning day and we can split the duties,” said Seungcheol nodding, “but nothing day to day no.”

“What are the other requirements?” asked Jisoo frowning.

“What do you mean?”

“The requirements. For living here. For getting to eat and everything else,” said Jisoo hands coming up to wrap tightly around his stomach, his tail was tucked tight against his waist as well, out of the way and probably for comfort.

“I don’t have any,” said Seungcheol.

“What did you buy me for?” asked Jisoo wrinkling his nose and rephrasing. “I’m sorry my Korean isn’t perfect.”

“You’re Korean is great,” insisted Seungcheol shaking his head. “And I was lonely and I couldn’t leave you there. Everyone else was better off than you were. You were too tall for the cages.”

“I know I’m not very desirable,” said Jisoo shaking his head, “and that I don’t exactly have a lot of options. But I’m not who you want to help you with your loneliness. I can try but the employees at the shelter are right I can’t.”

“That’s not what I meant by lonely,” said Seungcheol shaking his head. “I don’t want you for your body. I don’t want you for sex. I won’t even touch you if you don’t want me to.” Jisoo looked more confused by this and like he didn’t believe Seungcheol but his ears perked up slightly. Seungcheol took that to mean that Jisoo probably would prefer not to be touched at all.

“But that’s what cat hybrids are for,” said Jisoo and Seungcheol shrugged.

“Well, I think it seems kind of ridiculous for people without real degrees in science to claim that an entire kind of people are only for sex,” said Seungcheol, “besides aren’t cats trained in other stuff too? I thought bunny hybrids were the ones that couldn’t be trained for tasks.”

“But you don’t want me to do chores,” said Jisoo. “And you don’t want sex? Do you want me to help your store? I can try. I’ll learn. I don’t know that people would like that though.”

“If you wanted to you’re welcome to help or just hang around down there too,” said Seungcheol nodding. “I don’t really care if customers don’t like it. It’s not their business. And I adopted you because I’m lonely. I don’t know anyone in Seoul and it’s hard to make friends in a new city. I just want someone that can be around and that I can talk to and hang out with.”

“When you return me you should get a dog,” said Jisoo. His words tore something painful through Seungcheol’s chest. He hadn’t even been here an hour yet and was so sure that Seungcheol would return him to the shelter where he knew he was probably going to be put down soon. There was something wrong with the world if this was acceptable.

“I’m not returning you,” said Seungcheol.

“Everyone returns me.”

“Well, I hadn’t found you yet. I’m your last home, I promise.” Jisoo smiled bitterly at him.

“You want me to be honest with you? You seemed to want it earlier. The last six owners have said that. Do you know how many owners I’ve had. More than I can count. I don’t know where I’m from. I don’t know what I am. I have no idea how old I am. I’m not very strong. I’m not very pretty. I’m getting pretty old for a cat hybrid. And I can’t do any of the things a cat is supposed to do. What they didn’t tell you was that when you try to have sex with me whether I want to or not I will try to claw your eyes out. Same if you wake me from a nightmare. I never got over the fear of running water so I won’t touch the dishes. Loud noises scare me. I speak five languages, I can’t read or write in any of them. I can’t do math. I don’t even know how to spell my own name. I don’t know my name. Jisoo isn’t my name. And whatever my original surname is was lost ages and ages ago. I know I’m worthless, you paid too much for me. I’m not sure why they didn’t just kill me already,” said Jisoo ears laying flat against his head. That was a lot of information. Most of it directly contradicting everything that Seungcheol had ever heard about hybrids.

“I don’t see any of that as a problem,” said Seungcheol nodding. “Want to see your room? I’ll give you the official tour, head downstairs to run the shop for a bit while you get settled, and then we can get your collar and clothes figured out tomorrow.” Jisoo gave him a bewildered look but agreed and meekly followed Seungcheol down the hallway to the room.

“This is yours,” said Seungcheol opening the door. “If you don’t like the bed we can figure it out tomorrow.”

“This is mine?” asked Jisoo quietly.

“Yes,” said Seungcheol nodding.

“You aren’t going to punish me?” he asked.

“For what?”

“Speaking out of turn? Telling you off?” suggested Jisoo. “Being disrespectful.”

“No,” said Seungcheol shaking his head. “I didn’t think anything you said was wrong and I’m glad you let me know. I’m not very good at reading people so it will help both of us if you’re transparent with me and I’ll be transparent with you. Um. For example. I’m currently revaluating my opinions on common knowledge of hybrids and intend to look into things deeply on the internet tonight to see what I can find. Either way I’m very happy you’re here and a little terrified that I won’t be able to be a good home for you, but I’ll try my best. Please let me know if you need anything or think I need to do something else.”

“You’re really not going to hit me?” asked Jisoo. “So no food, right?”

“No, please eat when you’re hungry,” said Seungcheol shaking his head. “You really need to gain weight. I’m not ever going to deny you food.” Jisoo looked shocked but he looked like he believed him this time which Seungcheol counted as progress.

“You said your name isn’t Jisoo?” asked Seungcheol.

“One of the shelters when I came to Korea named me that,” said Jisoo nodding. “Because it’s a Korean name.”

“What would you like to be called?” asked Seungcheol.

“I don’t care.”

“I care,” said Seungcheol, “if you’d rather not be called Jisoo I’d like to know what you do want to be called and it sounded like you’d rather not be Jisoo earlier.” Jisoo chewed on his lip nervously and played with his tail slightly where it was still wrapped around his waist.

“They called me Joshua,” he said hesitantly.

“Joshua it is then,” said Seungcheol nodding, “I’m going down to the store, please come find me if you need me. You have free reign of the house, do whatever you want, please stay inside since we haven’t got a collar for you yet.”

“I don’t like going outside,” said Joshua quickly and Seungcheol nodded.

“Alright, I’m still going to get you a collar just incase you change your mind at some point,” he said.

“If you think it’s best,” said Joshua nodding. He was so submissive again and Seungcheol hoped that whatever fire he’d found a few minutes ago to rant like that wasn’t gone for good. He was pretty sure that Joshua needed it to keep going.

Joshua was jumpy for the next three weeks and flinched away every time Seungcheol got too close to him, but would immediately force himself to relax and apologized for it. It took almost three weeks for Seungcheol to convince him he didn’t want him to apologize every time and that he didn’t need to. Seungcheol wasn’t sure what Joshua did while he ran the store and it took him far longer than he would like to admit to realize that Joshua was keeping the apartment cleaned every day. It seemed to be a combination of having something to do and because he thought he should be doing something to be earning the food and the bed. So Seungcheol taught him how to use the TV remote and tried to do research for if there were negative effects of giving a hybrid a phone, which resulted in stuff that looked and sounded like bullshit so he went and bought him a phone. Joshua had asked him eight times that night what he wanted in return and Seungcheol wasn’t sure how to get the other to understand that he didn’t want anything. Joshua didn’t believe anything he said to him and Seungcheol didn’t know how to help him believe that. Seungcheol called a couple different hybrid clinics to ask about allergy medicine when he realized that part of why Joshua had seemed sick when he first came home with him was allergies. The clinics were surprisingly unhelpful so Seungcheol tried giving him some of the stuff he would take if his allergies were bad and they seemed to work. Joshua had been hesitant to even touch the medicine at first before seeming to force himself to take them. Seungcheol didn’t realize for months that it was because Joshua was worried that Seungcheol was going to drug him. By the time that two months had passed Joshua didn’t flinch away if Seungcheol got close to him and was more willing to pick if Seungcheol gave him options on things. He was more willing to initiate conversations with Seungcheol and often told him the play through of every single thing he had watched on TV while Seungcheol was in the shop. Seungcheol loved those conversations, less because of the content and more because Joshua was willingly talking to him and would light up when Seungcheol showed interest in his opinion on the shows instead of telling him to shut up. Five months of Joshua living with him and Seungcheol had wished he had someone to call and scream at excitedly the night that Joshua chose to sit next to him on the couch to watch a drama together rather than to sit on the floor or in the chair farthest away from Seungcheol. He still wouldn’t touch him and Seungcheol wasn’t about to try, but it was progress. And by the sixth month Joshua was comfortable enough around him and in knowing that Seungcheol wouldn’t touch him or hurt him that he fell asleep curled up in one of the chairs in the living room one night after dinner and Seungcheol felt a little like the sun had come to earth and blessed him with its presence just because Joshua trusted him enough to sleep around him.

After almost a year of Joshua living with him he knew very little about Joshua’s past or what caused all his trauma other than what he could guess, but Joshua trusted him and would touch him to get his attention though Seungcheol still wasn’t allowed to touch Joshua at all, and Joshua was only a little hesitant to make his opinion on things known and would always light up when Seungcheol came upstairs from work. It made Seungcheol wonder if Joshua was lonely waiting for him while he worked, not to mention he had noticed he seemed restless recently. He would suggest going out to one of the shopping centers or to a park, but Joshua had made it clear early on that he didn’t like being outside. Which left Seungcheol one option. So he brought it up after dinner one night.

“I was thinking,” said Seungcheol and Joshua’s ears twitched towards him as he shifted to look up at him from where he was curled half slumped against the arm of the couch.

“Something wrong?” he asked. That was always his first assumption even after a year. He assumed automatically that if Seungcheol wanted to talk to him that it was something he needed to fix that he had been doing. What Seungcheol wouldn’t give to meet some of his previous owners just to string them up by their ears.

“It can’t be fun to sit up here alone all day,” said Seungcheol, “and I know you don’t like going outside. So what if you hung out with me while I worked?”

“Do you need help in the shop?” asked Joshua immediately worried. “Is something wrong with it? I don’t know math but I can learn and my reading is way better. I’ll help.” He was always so eager to jump to fix whatever was going wrong for Seungcheol and never mentioned any of his own issues and Seungcheol wished he would because he couldn’t guess what he needed.

“No, the shop’s fine,” said Seungcheol shaking his head. “I just noticed you seem restless and I was trying to guess at why and that was all I could come up with. So if you think it would help you, I’d love to have you in the shop with me during the day.” Joshua chewed on his lip as he thought about how he wanted to respond.

“I’m okay,” he said finally. “It’s my own fault that I’m antsy, I’m sorry. Hybrids need physical affection but since I freak out about it there’s really nothing to be done about it. And being around customers scares me. That’s a lot of people that I don’t know that will want to touch me and will say awful things to me and to you and about you and about me and I don’t want to make business worse for you.”

“The coffee place around the corner has hybrids that work for them and they have a cute sign about no harassment of employees so we could put something like that up and everyone would leave you alone. And the bookstore does too and you might be surprised how relaxed the people around here are about it. Sure there’s some awful people but in general the customers we get are used to seeing the other hybrids around here and to be honest if you live in this area you get your coffee from Eat Jin’s and his bunny hybrid helps make drinks and take orders so no one’s going to judge a cat hybrid hanging out in a plant shop. I don’t know how to help with the touch thing. What if we found other hybrids? Would that help?” Joshua shrugged.

“I mean, I can do touch with other hybrids, it’s just humans that freak me out, but you can’t support another hybrid and people don’t really set up hybrid playdates,” said Joshua shaking his head.

“Well, I’ll see what I can do,” said Seungcheol frowning. “I’ll come up with something.”

“I’d um, I would like to try sitting in the shop with you,” said Joshua, “if it’s awful I can come back up here, right?”

“Absolutely, whenever you want,” said Seungcheol nodding. Joshua nodded.

“I can try it,” he said sounding determined. It was a little flash of the fire that he’d shown the first night when he’d ranted at Seungcheol. Every now and then he’d see glimpses of it, but it was few and far between.

“Awesome,” said Seungcheol smiling. “I’ll make a sign.”

“You don’t want me to help right? Because I have no idea what I’m doing,” said Joshua.

“Not if you don’t want to,” said Seungcheol shaking his head. Joshua nodded.

“Okay,” he said. “Maybe it’ll help.”

The next day found Seungcheol chatting idly with Joshua in between customers. Joshua had put on his collar that he hadn’t worn once in the entire year that he’d owned it and was sitting in the chair Seungcheol had pulled out of the office so there’d be a chair for both of them. He was the same height as Seungcheol, but the oversized hoodies he tended to favor always made him look much smaller. So far all the customers had been great to him and had even backed off from trying to pet his ears when he would flinch back or jerk away to hide himself behind Seungcheol. Halfway through the day one particular man had smiled when Seungcheol had preemptively told him not to touch Joshua and had nodded.

“Touch abhorrent?” he asked, “or just strangers?”

“What’s that mean?” whispered Joshua to Seungcheol. “Abhorrent? I don’t know that word.”

“Averse, doesn’t like, avoidant,” said Seungcheol listing what the word meant for him. “Touch abhorrent people don’t like to be touched. Like you.” Joshua nodded.

“That’s bad?” he asked.

“Um. No?” said Seungcheol.

“Well, it’s not great,” said the man wrinkling his nose. “Medically hybrids need physical affection or they don’t do very well but like the sickness and symptoms that come with it can take anywhere from months to years and are normally longer to show themselves in cats.” Joshua’s shoulders slumped.

“See I am broken,” he told Seungcheol who immediately shook his head, used to having this conversation after a year.

“You’re not,” he insisted. “Besides it’s just people anyway. So we just need to find a hybrid for you to be friends with.”

“You don’t have any friends with hybrids?” asked the man.

“Seungcheol-hyung doesn’t have any friends period,” said Joshua and then snapping his jaw shut looking wide eyed at Seungcheol. Who just chuckled.

“He’s right,” he said nodding. “I moved here a couple years ago and adopted Joshua because I wasn’t doing a great job at making friends.”

“Oh, dude,” said the man nodding. “I get you. It’s rough living somewhere new. I work on the next street over and normally Wonwoo is with me. The cactus is for his birthday so he’s not with me today. I’m Soonyoung by the way, call me Hoshi everyone does. I work at Hope On the Street it’s a dance studio. You should come by! We have hybrid only classes and they’d love to have someone new.”

“Something you’d consider?” asked Seungcheol looking at Joshua who immediately shook his head.

“You’d have to pay for those also it would require me going outside, so no thanks, not interested,” said Joshua immediately and Seungcheol nodded. He’d expected that and he was glad that being downstairs and around strangers hadn’t kept Joshua from telling him exactly what he thought. It had taken almost a year to get to the point that he didn’t hesitate too much to tell him things and Seungcheol didn’t want to reverse that in anyway.

“Not an outside kinda guy then?” asked Hoshi nodding. “That’s chill. Wonwoo-ah is a Korean Shorthair, if you think skinship with a hybrid would be okay I’ll totally bring him with me later this week and you can meet him.”

“That might be a good idea,” said Seungcheol nodding. 

“It seems kind of inconvenient for you,” said Joshua shaking his head. “Please don’t bother. I don’t want to be a bother.”

“It wouldn’t be any bother,” said Hoshi shaking his head. “He’ll probably want to come meet you as soon as I mention that you’re here. What’s your name?”

“Choi Joshua,” said Joshua scooting closer to Seungcheol and glancing at him hesitantly.

“And I’m Seungcheol,” said Seungcheol nodding. “You’re welcome back anytime of course.”

“Cool, cool,” said Hoshi nodding. “Have you been to Jin’s yet? He’s cool and Jungkook-ah is awesome. You should come to Hope sometime too if you ever decide to brave the outside world, Joshua-ssi. Yoongi-hyung hangs around the front desk sometimes and he’s a Scottish Fold too.”

“He’s what?” asked Joshua confused.

“A Scottish Fold cat hybrid. Are you not? I’m sorry, the ears are pretty distinctive and I assumed,” said Hoshi frowning.

“I don’t know my breed,” said Joshua quietly. “Everyone always figured I was some kind of weird mix because of my ears.”

“Oh no, that’s what they’re supposed to look like,” said Hoshi shaking his head. “Coloring and fur and ears, I’d bet the house on you being purebred Scottish Fold. Yoongi-hyung could probably tell and Dr. Kim at Bangtan probably could too.”

“Bangtan?” asked Seungcheol.

“Bangtan Hybrid Clinic,” said Hoshi nodding. “You don’t go there? They’re the closest and Dr. Kim’s the best in Seoul.”

“I’ve not been sick or hurt,” said Joshua shaking his head. “Hyung said I might need to if I didn’t gain weight but I did so we didn’t go looking.” Seungcheol nodded in agreement.

“Like not even for a check up just to make sure you’re okay? I’m assuming you came from a shelter since you didn’t know your breed?” asked Hoshi, “shelters are super unhealthy and abusive and really really not good for hybrids of any kind.”

“But I’m okay?” said Joshua hesitant now about the direction the conversation was going. “The shelter was fine.”

“It was definitely not what I would say was fine,” said Seungcheol shaking his head. “And he’s right I probably should have found a clinic right away just to make sure you really were okay, but you’re so adamant about not going outside that I didn’t want to do it if you weren’t having problems.”

“Sorry,” muttered Joshua his ears flattening slightly.

“That’s not a reason to apologize,” said Seungcheol and Joshua’s nose wrinkled.

“I need a list of acceptable reasons for an apology,” he said and Seungcheol laughed.

“I’ll see what I can do,” he said handing Hoshi his bag. Hoshi glanced at his watch.

“Shit, I’ve got to go, I’ve got a class in ten minutes and my boss will kill me if I’m late,” he said nodding. “It was great to meet you both, I’ll be by later this week.” He hurried out of the shop and they settled back into the laziness of the day. It was always calm in the shop and Seungcheol loved it, Joshua seemed to like it too.

Hoshi was back the next Monday, a taller boy with all black hair and bright green eyes with him, almost dragging him into the store.

“Johnny-hyung will be there later today, you can say hi then, come on,” he insisted moving around him to push him into the store. “Plants, Hoshi-yah, plants, plants, plants.” Hoshi laughed and pushed against him to no avail since the hybrid boy was taller.

“Don’t think I won’t leave you to fall on your ass,” said the hybrid and Hoshi laughed and stood up to support his own weight and walk over towards the counter.

“Hi, Seungcheol-ssi, is Joshua-ssi not here?” asked Hoshi noticing that the counter was lacking a hybrid.

“He headed upstairs earlier,” said Seungcheol nodding. “We had a lot of schoolkids this morning and he didn’t particularly enjoy that.”

“Yikes,” said the hybrid nodding. “Hoshi said that he doesn’t know any other hybrids?”

“No,” said Seungcheol shaking his head.

“Cool, cool, can I meet him? Is that okay? I know way too many and he should definitely have friends. So should you. Have you met Hoshi, yet? Here he is, this is Hoshi, he likes plants and hip hop and dance. Talk get to know each other. Where do I find Joshua-ssi?”

“You haven’t introduced yourself yet,” said Hoshi shaking his head.

“There are things to be done, hyung,” insisted the hybrid. “I’m sure you can explain details later. You said Joshua-ssi’s touch abhorrent to humans so he’s not had proper ear pets in years and that must be fixed right this minute.” Seungcheol chuckled.

“Give me a second to flip the sign to closed and we can go upstairs,” he said. When he was back from closing the sign and locking the front door he noticed that the hybrid was reading the sign he had set up on the counter.

“I like your sign. Get the idea from Jin-hyung?” he asked.

“Oh, is the owner’s name actually Jin?” asked Seungcheol nodding.

“Kim Seokjin, but most people call him Jin,” said Hoshi nodding. “He’s really cool.”

“Definitely,” agreed Wonwoo nodding. “And Jungkook-ah is great so you know he’s a cool guy. So where’s the cat?” Seungcheol led the way up the stairs and opened the apartment door.

“Shua?” he called into the apartment and Joshua’s head popped up from over the back of the couch.

“Hyung? It’s not closing time?” he asked and then his eyes widened as he realized there were other people with Seungcheol.

“Hi, Joshua-ssi, I told you I’d be back,” said Hoshi waving. “I like your hoodie.”

“Um, thank you,” said Joshua nervously.

“Hi!” said the hybrid waving and immediately moving over towards the couch. He’d left his shoes by the front door, set neatly together.

“Hoshi-ssi’s hybrid insisted on coming straight up to meet you,” said Seungcheol nodding. “And we were slow so I was planning to close early anyway.”

“Hi,” said Joshua nervously looking over the other hybrid.

“I’m Kwon Wonwoo, you met Hoshi-yah already, right?” asked Wonwoo inviting himself to sit on the couch near Joshua but not touching him yet.

“Yes,” said Joshua nodding. “You don’t call him hyung?”

“Only when I want something,” said Wonwoo shrugging. “Soonyoungie is only a month older than me so not really enough to be that much of a difference.”

“Wonwoo-ah isn’t really a stickler for honorifics,” said Hoshi shrugging, “and it works just fine that he only uses them when he wants something because I can tell he’s serious.” Joshua looked skeptical but didn’t say anything.

“Right, so that’s that, moving on. Can I scratch your ears? They look super soft,” said Wonwoo, his tail was curling slightly where it hung off the couch, and his ears twitched almost excitedly. Joshua looked hesitant before nodding.

“Okay,” he said. Wonwoo scooted closer carefully and reached up to scratch his ears. Joshua tensed but he didn’t flinch back and he didn’t scream or jump off the couch. Nothing happened at first and then his entire body melted and his eyes fluttered closed.

“Good?” asked Wonwoo sounding amused. “I’ve been told I’m great at ear scratches.”

“ _Holy shit,_ ” whispered Joshua. “ _So good._ ” Wonwoo smiled and Seungcheol let Hoshi pull him into the kitchen to talk.

“How long’s he lived here?” asked Hoshi immediately.

“About a year,” said Seungcheol and Hoshi nodded.

“He needs a doctor,” said Hoshi.

“He seems perfectly healthy,” said Seungcheol, “other than the panic attacks.”

“No, not a hybrid doctor. A therapist,” said Hoshi shaking his head. “Like a psychologist, a head doctor. He needs help.”

“Where am I going to find a therapist that treats hybrids?” asked Seungcheol raising an eyebrow.

“Do you have a pen?” asked Hoshi. “I’ve got a list I can give you to try. The good one for trauma is Dr. Park. But she also works in the same office as a couple other therapists who would all see him and Dr. Nam is really good too and he speaks native English. Joshua-ssi definitely sounds like a native speaker. His Korean is accented and his English sounded perfect from what I can tell.”

“We don’t know where he’s from,” said Seungcheol shaking his head, “we know it’s not here, but we don’t know where.”

“Well, it’s probably somewhere English speaking. I’d guess America,” said Hoshi shrugging as Seungcheol grabbed a pen and a notepad for him. Hoshi scribbled down the information for the doctor.

“Dr. Nam works part time there and part time at the university and he’ll make house calls for special cases,” said Hoshi circling the name. “Dr. Park is who Wonwoo-ah likes and I know a couple other hybrids that see her too and they all really like her, but I’ve heard good things about Dr. Nam and Dr. Park doesn’t make house calls.”

“I’ll call,” said Seungcheol nodding. “I’m not sure I’ll get him to do it especially if it requires leaving the house.”

“It’s worth a shot. It helps,” said Hoshi nodding. “Wonwoo-ah in comparison to most of the hybrids we know, he didn’t deal with nearly as much, I got him right after his breeder sold him to the shelter. But a lot of the others didn’t and the doctors help them a lot too. I think he needs this. If they won’t come see you, don’t force him to, but it’s important that he knows this is really important to try and do.”

“A therapist really?” asked Seungcheol.

“Therapists are good. I know there’s a mental health stigma but it’s stupid. Mental health is important especially with hybrids because they’re put through so much shit just for existing,” said Hoshi shaking his head. Joshua stepped into the doorway of the kitchen.

“Um, hyung?” he asked hesitantly.

“Yeah?” asked Seungcheol immediately shifting his attention to him.

“Can Wonwoo-ah stay the rest of the day?” he asked, his ears were laid back against his head and his tail was wrapped tightly around his waist again like he was nervous and trying to protect it. Hoshi’s eyes got stuck on that and he frowned slightly.

“Of course,” said Seungcheol nodding. “He can even stay the night if you want.” Joshua perked up and his ears stood straight up and he bounced slightly before nodding and hurrying back to the living room.

“He’s not scared of you,” said Hoshi.

“He acts like he is,” said Seungcheol.

“No, he doesn’t. If he was scared of you he wouldn’t have asked that,” said Hoshi shaking his head. “He’s not scared of you, just nervous. And I think someone’s pulled his tail in the past to hurt him or punish him or something.”

“What makes you think that?” asked Seungcheol.

“Cat hybrids don’t wrap theirs tails around themselves like that unless they’re trying to hide them or are trying to keep them from being pulled, like if they’re around young kids,” said Hoshi he frowned deeper as he talked. “Do you know anything about hybrid body language? Like anything legit that’s not bullshit? I’ve got a book that passed the Yoongi-hyung test and Wonwoo-ah agrees too.”

“The Yoongi-hyung test? He’s the Scottish Fold you mentioned, right?” asked Seungcheol and Hoshi nodded.

“That might be good,” said Seungcheol agreeing. “I don’t read people very well and I have to guess most of the time with Shua because he doesn’t want to admit something’s wrong.”

“You definitely need to get him a doctor’s appointment,” said Hoshi nodding.

“Does Wonwoo need permission to stay the night?” asked Seungcheol.

“No,” said Hoshi shaking his head. “So long as he has everything he needs and doesn’t need me to pick him up in the morning if I’m working he’s good to do whatever. He’s not much younger than me as he mentioned earlier. I’m not his parent, Seungcheol-ssi.”

“You can call me hyung, Hoshi-ah,” said Seungcheol nodding and Hoshi smiled at him and nodded.

“Good,” he said. “Wonwoo will take that as permission to do so too. He’s probably already calling Joshua-ssi hyung. How old is Joshua-ssi do you think?”

“If I had to guess I’d say he’s my age or a year younger,” said Seungcheol nodding.

“I’m born in 96 so he’s almost definitely older than me,” said Hoshi nodding. “If we stay in the kitchen too long they’re going to get suspicious. Honestly Wonwoo probably only hasn’t come looking for us because he knew I was going to ask about doctors.” That said Hoshi turned around without waiting for a response and headed back to the living room and claimed one of the free seats that wasn’t the couch as his own. Seungcheol sat in the other chair and smiled slightly when he realized that Wonwoo had Joshua laying down curled up on the couch with his head and shoulders pulled up into Wonwoo’s lap and that he was playing with his hair and scratching his ears. Joshua was even purring. Logically Seungcheol knew cat hybrids had the ability but he’d certainly never expected to hear it from Joshua.

“Do you like dramas, Joshua-hyung? Me and Wonwoo have been watching this new one recently,” said Hoshi launching into a conversation about the drama and Wonwoo joining in excitedly. Joshua looked more than a little shocked at being addressed as hyung by a human and it took him several minutes and a lot of encouraging from Wonwoo to share his opinions on the drama. Seungcheol would call Dr. Nam in the morning to see if he could get an appointment with him. Hopefully, he could and hopefully he would agree to come to them and hopefully Hoshi was right and it would help. Joshua had already come a long way from where he had been when Seungcheol brought him home, but now they had friends and Seungcheol had more of a plan and he couldn’t help but feel like maybe there were better things on their way for both of them.

**Author's Note:**

> this is shorter than the last one by a lot...that last one kinda got away from me. 
> 
> Animals for Hybrids because I worked really hard on this:   
> Joshua - Scottish Fold Cat   
> Wonwoo - Korean Shorthair Cat (like traditional black cat with bright green eyes)   
> Yoongi - Scottish Fold Cat  
> Jungkook - English Lop Bunny (i'm like 70% sure i mentioned him)
> 
> also i know i said it might be a bit before i managed to upload a new fic and yet here we are a day later....in short i should not be trusted. and also had this partially written and just let it run away with me for the afternoon. 
> 
> quick life update for anyone who's like, but maelstrom you said you were moving back to school this week. i did get moved back into my dorm. i absolutely finished writing this at three in the morning. and my roommate already managed to get security called on us and if she does that again or smokes weed in my fucking dorm again with my asthmatic self in here i'm absolutely calling the RA on her. i will be that annoying roommate. if you want to smoke weed do it where it's not going to kill me and not going to get us fined for smoking on a smoke free campus. (passive aggressive smiley :) i am not dealing with this shit this year absolutely not. i'm not judgmental you do what you wanna do but don't cause me problems with it pal)   
> so like pray for me. or my roommate. i might kill her before the end of the year so maybe pray for her. (or your equivalent of prayer if you're not religious. i will always take any happy or good vibes you want to send my way :D) 
> 
> i have an idea for a jungkook and seokjin based fic and am probably going to write that one next. that or i'll write the idea i've got for either stray kids or nct next, but i'm currently leaning towards the bts fic
> 
> i think that's all the updates i've got for everyone.   
> in conclusion:  
> \- more hybrid fics on the way.   
> \- i'm out of my parent's house for the forceable future until at least november barring anymore 2020 events.   
> \- my roommate situation might get interesting.   
> \- and i hope everyone's lives are moving in a better direction as school starts back up :D 
> 
> pls remember to take care of yourselves and if you're living with roommates don't get security called on you the first night back ..... i should probably get some sleep. that might make me feel better. or eat something. 
> 
> i'm gonna do both it'll be great. 
> 
> i'm sure it'll all be fine in the morning and she won't do it again since we had a civilized adult conversation....i'm not sure when i lost my faith in humanity but it probably really started when the governor of my state got corona, declared it wasn't that bad and then refused to do anything about precautions against it. -_- 
> 
> can i choose to not be a human anymore? like can i be some kind of fantasy fairy elf thing instead? like is that allowed? how does one do that? 
> 
> this turned into a rant. i'm so sorry. i have no self control
> 
> i love and appreciate all of you even if you don't kudo or comment you're doing great things with life and i wish you all the absolute best!!!!   
> (i'm not going anywhere i just needed some positivity and have always been that person that's like...*brushes off hands. 'very well i'll do it myself'*)
> 
> thank you for reading!!!!! :))) <3<3<3


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